This invention relates to laser assemblies with common outputs. A particular though not necessarily exclusive application for such devices is for optically pumping optical amplifiers.
In the field of optically pumped optical amplifiers the optical wavelength multiplexing of pump sources has been proposed as a way of increasing pump power in a single spatial mode. All the different pump wavelengths need to be confined within the appropriate absorption spectrum of the optical amplifier, and also involves the emission wavelength of the individual pumps being spectrally aligned with the spectral characteristics of the wavelength multiplexer. Typically this requires active wavelength control using feedback electro-optic control loops to achieve the requisite spectral precision. Such feedback is for instance employed in the wavelength multiplexed optical amplifier pump described in UK Patent Application GB 2 293 684.